This qualitative study asks whether structural
transformation brought about by modernization in
contemporary urban India can induce growing equality in the
sense of mutual respect between the lower and the middle
classes. From the idographic context of female domestic
workers and their employers in Chennai (Tamil Nadu) a
general type of modernity for the periphery is outlined.
Even though changes in this relation are apparent and
various forms of respect and recognition are developing, the
deep hierarchical differences persist despite - or
precisely because of - modernity in the form of
capitalism.

Johanna Vogel (Dr.) studied Intercultural
Business Studies at the University of Passau and received
2017 her PhD in Human Geography at the University of
Bayreuth.